Romania has that distinction, having banned aspartame in the mid 1990s; followed by Philippines banning aspartame on Oct. 13, 2005. Anyone breaking that law faces heavy fines.

For any government to take such a step there must be grave and valid reasons for doing so. They took the time necessary to investigate with an open mind and acted on the information they discovered.

They used the FDA's own list of 92 symptoms attributed to aspartame, which include developmental retardation in children; coma and death.

There are 47 members of parliament in Britain who are pushing to get aspartame banned in their country; Many of the major stores in Britian have voluntarily chosen to stop using aspartame in their products; and there are movements to get aspartame banned in other parts of the world.

Hawaii -- if it cares about it's citizens -- needs to do the same by passing legislation pending in the Hawaii State Legislature.

No person in government who is addicted to aspartame in the form of Coca-cola light, or Zero, or any other product including chewing gum will ever give an unbiased and informed vote. This is a challenge for everyone concerned.

Sixty days of abstinence from aspartame products should adequately prove the point. Is this product really that dangerous? I consumed a soda drink for nearly six years that contained aspartame. It was not a "diet" or "light" soda and not advertised as such. I consumed just one-and-one-half liters per day. This means I was consuming approximately 227,5mg of aspartame; of which 22,75mg was methanol. This amount of aspartame is well below the daily limit allowed.

Methanol is poisonous. It converts to formaldhyde in the body. These are facts proven by scientific research, not guesswork. When I began consuming this product I was evaluated at 19 percent disability because of mild arthritis. In less than six months my disability rating had shot up to 65 percent and I was in a wheelchair.

Any doctor will tell you that arthritis does not deteriorate at such a rate unless there is some outside agent that is causing severe damage to the joints. Spondiloarthrosis is arthritis of the spine, which is what I have been diagnosed with. In under a year my disability has soared to 84 percent and I was also diagnosed with an enlarged heart. Other toxic effects that I had from aspartame are:

• Grand Mal Seizures during the night -- disappeared since I stopped consuming aspartame.
• Restless Leg Syndrome -- dissapeared since I stopped ingesting aspartame.

• Arrythmia and loss of pulse -- improved since I stopped ingesting aspartame but will reappear if I unkowingly consume anything that has aspartame. *Extreme fatigue -- chronically tired and unable to funtion normally -- disappeared since I stopped ingesting aspartame.

• Heavy sedation -- I was sleeping between 16 to 20 hours daily, feeling as if I was recovering from general anaesthetic but without fully recovering my sense -- disappeared since I stopped ingesting aspartame.

• Vision disturbance in the left eye and pain in the optic nerve -- disappeared since I stopped ingesting aspartame.

• Extreme joint pain including fingers and toes -- This has improved since I stopped ingesting aspartame, but not fully; the degenerative progression of the arthritis has slowed down, but there is permanent damage to the joints of the spine. The doctor has prescribed morphine PRN for those days when the pain is severe and does not respond to the usual anagesics prescibed for this.

• Severe depression and personality changes -- disappeared since eliminating aspartame from my diet.

The withdrawal symptoms from this included: severe anxiety; craving similar to drug addiction; constant intense thirst; disturbed sleep pattern; mood swings; short temper; muscle cramps; and much more. It was at least 4 to 5 weeks before I began to feel an improvement. All of this is medically documented. I am now on a disability pension. I have been assessed for a dependency rating; I need a caregiver 24/7. I stopped using aspartame products Nov. 2, 2006.

I sincerely hope that Hawaii Legislature will have the courage to do what is right for their constituents. Anything else would be criminal negligence.

Lady C. Ann Davies-Joubert can be reached at mailto:mision_posible.espanya@yahoo.com

HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly. Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com

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